Milk-safe.



L. O. DOW.

MILK SAFE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16, I915.

Patented Aug. 28, 1917.

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WITNESSES.

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L. 0. Dow.

MILK SAFE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 16. 1915.

Patented Aug. 28, 1917.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented au izs, 1am.

Application filed March 16, 1915. Serial No. 14,'669.

To all'whomitmay concern:

Be it known that I, Leon 0. Dow, 'a' citizen of the United States, residing at {Malden, inthe county of Middle'sex, in the State of Massachusetts, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Milk-Safes, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

The object of this invention is to provide a convenient and reasonably cheap receptacle for bottled milk; said receptacle'being specially designed to be located on the outer side of a house and #to be opened only from the-innersideyas I shall explain more fully later; my purpose being to -thus providea depository inwhich a milkman may place *a full bottle of milk and, at the same time,

take away an empty bottle, the depository or safe being so constructed that the milkman can lock up a full bottle but no one can unlock it except with the knowledge and aid of the housewife.

My invention is illustrated in the annexed drawings, Figured being a perspective View of a milk safe embodying my present im- 'provements, as it appears when closed and locked, Fig. 2 is a similar view of the said safe with both :of its doors "opened and Fig. 3 is a like view with one or its doors open andthe otherdoor closed. I

Fig. 4 is a horizontal, sectional, view of the safe housing taken on the line of Fig. :1. Fig. 5 is atop view of theleft hand door (22). Fig. 6 is an elevation of the upper portion "of the door 22 as viewed from the inner side'of said door. Fi g. 7 is a View, in'eleva'tion, of the latching, and latch-operating, mechanism which is mounted upon the partition which divides the safe housing into two compartments, as it appears when the door of the left hand compartment is open and the door of "the right hand compartment is closed.

Fig. 8 is a similar View showing said mechanism as it appears when the left hand door is closed and the right hand door is automatically sprung open.

Fig. 9 shows said mechanism as having been operated by pulling the knob 25 in order to open the left hand door.

My described safe may be constructed of sheet metal, or other substantial material, of box form having two compartments, 'one of which is indicated by the reference 'numeral 20 and is specially adapted to receive a full bottle ofmilk While the other compartment 21 is 1 specially provided to receive one or more empty bottles.

The compartment 20 has a closure 22 of door formthat ishinged'totheboxdike casingor housing'23, and the compartment'21 has a door 24 that is also hinged to :the housing 23.

Provisionis made, as I will describe indetail, for locking both. doors in their closed positions, the intended operation 'of "said doors being as follows. The empty bottle is'pla-ced by the-housewife inthe compait ment 21 and the door-ofrthatcompartment is *closed and automatically locked by a spring-actuated bolt; the door of the other col'npartment (20) being, however, left unlooked. WVhe'n themilkmanarri-veswith the daily supplyof fresh milkheplaces the-bot- -tle in the compartment 20 and, as/he closes the door, the door is automatically locked and, by the same action, the door '24 is caused to automatically unlock and swing open, thus allowmg-themilkman to reach-1n and "remove the empty bottle or bottles.

Meanwhile the door 22 is fastened in :its closed position and remains so until 'the housewife is {ready to take in the full bottle of milk when {she pulls a knob or ring 25 located inside the house, and thus operates me'chanism which "unla'tches the (door 22 which then swings open automatically and she then goes outside and takes the "full bottle' from the compartment-20. After the bottle has been emptied and cleansed she "takes it outside'and places it in-the compartment "21 and closes the door-'24: thus locking *up the empty bottle 'lllljllll 'such time "as the mating the curve of the milk bottle, said bar being hinged at 2' and having-at its .free end a stud-like extension 27 that projects througha lslotin the partition wall into the, compartment 21.

The said curved bar 27 is so positioned that, when a bottle is placed in compartment 20 and is pushed back in said compartment by the closing of the door, the bar is correspondingly pushed rearward thus changing the position of its extension 27'. I

The top portion of door 22 is provlded, near its hinge, with an extension 22 which is notched as at'22 to hook over a latch 28 that is fulcrumed at 28 on the partition 26, (when the door is closed) in order to lock the door in its closed position and said door is also provided with a second projection 29 which also extends through the said partition wall when the door is closed, and is adapted to cooperate with the upper end portion of a bar 30 which is fulcrumed at 30 and extends downward a considerable distance and carries a fixed pin 30 which is adapted to cooperate with a latch 31 that is fulcrumed at 31 and is formed with a hook 31 that is suitably positioned and shaped to drop'into a staple 32 on the door 24, when the latter is closed, and thus lock the said door in'its closed position. The latch 31 rests then on the pin 30 and when the bar 30 is swunglaterally by the closing of door 22 and the consequent engagement of the projection 29 with the upper end of said bar 30, the pin'30 raises the latch 31 a distance sufficient to withdraw the hook 31 from the staple 32 and thus permit the door 24 to be pushed open by a leaf spring 33 secured to thehousing, or to the partition wall as maybe most convenient.

The latch 31 is formed with a second I hook 31 which, when the said latch-bar is raised, as I have just described, is moved into position to drop into the staple 32 upon a slight lateral reflex movement of 31 and the said hook 31 then operates to hold the door 24 closed'until such time as a bottle is placed in compartment 20 and the door 22 is closed, when the lever 34 is rockedout of blocking engagement with the lower end of the'bar 30 which latter is then rocked by the door-projection 29, thus raising the hook 31 out of the staple and permitting'the door 24 to swing open and expose the empty bottle.

The stud-like projection 27 on the curved bar 27 lies in a diagonal slot' 34 in a lever 34 which is fulcrumed at 34", the arrangement of stud and slotbeing such that when the stud is moved rearward by the entrance of a full bottle in co1npa-rtment'20, the lever 34 will be rocked on its fulcrum from the position shown in Fig. 7 to the position, shown in Fig. 8 thus moving the other end of said lever34 out of the path of the lower end of the bar 30 and thus permitting the'latter to be swung on its fulcrum in order that the said lever 30 may raise the latch hook 31 out of the staple 32, Until the lever 34 is thus moved out of the path of lever 30 the latter cannot be swung so as to move the latch 31 and it will therefore be obvious that the unlatching of door 24 is dependent upon two operations; first, the movement of lever 34 by the projection 27 upon the entrance of 7 a bottle in compartment 20 and, second, the

full bottle she first pulls the knob 25 which is connected to a lever 35 which is fulcrumed at 35v and is retained yieldingly in its normal position by a spring 36, the upper end of the lever 35 being located just below the latch 28, already referred to, and in such relation to said latch 28 that, when lever 35 is rocked by the pulling ofknob 25, the latch 28 will be rocked out of engagement of the hook 22 and the door 22 will thus be released and allowed to swing open, the other doorbeing simultaneously unlatched.

She then goes outside and removes the full bottle from compartment 20, and leaves said compartment unlocked.

Pivoted to the end of lever 34 is a'bar 37 whose upper end is bifurcated or slotted and straddles a pin 38 onthe latch 28, the length of the slot beingsuch that, when the bar 37 is moved upward by the rocking faction of the lever 34, the pin 38 is engaged by the lower end wall ofsaid slot and the latch 28 is held out of engagement with the moved rearwardlyso as to swing the bar 27 ,the lever 35 will be swung downwardly, after which the door 22 is swung to its closed position with the hook 22 engaged with the lever28 and the projection 29 with the bar 30. As the bar 30 swings inwardly, the pin 30 lifts the latch 31 so that the hook 31 releases the staple 32, whereupon the door 24 opens under the action of the spring 33. The empty bottles cannow be removed, but the full bottles must remain in the compartment 20 as long as the door 22 remains locked. To release the door 22 it is necessary to rock the lever 35, which action swings v A milk safe comprising a housing having 'milk bottle is placed in compartment 20 and I same to release the latch, the other projection being adapted for locking engagement with said lever to lock the associated closures. 10

LEON O. DOW.

tWo compartments, a closure for each compartment, a bar and latch pivotally mounted between the compartments, a lever associated With the bar and latch for locking one of the closures, a pair of projections carried by the other closure, one of said projections be ing adapted to engage the bar to actuate the Witnesses:

FRANK H. ALLEN, BLANCHE C. CHARTIER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents. Washington, D. G. 

